The state of the art of book printing and assembly, while having seen much in improved mechanization that is addressed to the speed and quality of the printing and binding processes, has seen little change in the basic steps of book printing and assembly.
Generally speaking, the process is as follows. First, the pages are printed. Next, the pages are cut in order to be collated or assembled into signatures. Then, the text block is formed by connecting the signatures, either by sewing or gluing. Finally, the cover is attached. Therefore, the process of forming the text block is performed only on the number of pages in the book and the process is repeated for each book being produced.
This process is well suited for mass production, but leaves little room for affordable production of a small number of books, and is totally unsuited for production of a single book.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,711 discloses a printing apparatus for printing on the pages of a pre-bound bank passbook. This apparatus employs two printing devices, one associated with each of the exposed pages. The two printing devices are used to compensate for the different heights of each of the pages.
There is therefore a need for a system for producing a book by printing directly on the pages of a pre-bound page block, separating the printed pages from the page block and attaching a cover to the resultant text block. It would be beneficial if the system employed a single printing device.